


Biscuits and Jam

by HapaxLegomenon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Comfort Food, F/M, Family, Zine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:54:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22132858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HapaxLegomenon/pseuds/HapaxLegomenon
Summary: Or: Three Times Krolia Cooked For Her Son
Relationships: Keith & Krolia (Voltron), Keith's Father/Krolia (Voltron)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37





	Biscuits and Jam

1.

“Need any help there, darlin’?” The amusement in her husband’s voice was clear as he called from their small living room, where he sat on the floor with baby Keith in his lap and a googly-eyed sock puppet over one hand.

Krolia brushed her hair off her forehead with the back of her wrist. “I’m fine,” she said, voice clipped. She never backed down from a challenge. It was a trait that had served her well with the Blade of Marmora, and it would serve her here, too.

She would not be conquered by biscuits.

The recipe should not be difficult; it was a simple set of instructions. Far less complex than hacking into the Empire’s research databanks, and Krolia had done that more times than she could count. She just had to remember what the difference was between a “tsp” and a “tbsp” and she would be fine.

Aha. The “tsp” was the smaller one. She selected the appropriate spoon and mixed one “tsp” of baking soda into the mixture, double-checked the instructions, and nodded, satisfied. Everything was in place. There was no reason for her dinner plans to fail.

With the biscuits in the oven and the gravy bubbling on the hotplate, Krolia washed her hands and went to join her family in the living room. Keith looked up at her with big, serious eyes, and pointed at the sock puppet.

“I see it,” she told him with equal solemnity, and reached out to stroke his hair. Human infants had such soft hair; she loved to touch it. 

There were so many things to love about this planet. And she was discovering more every day.

Her husband grinned at her. “Got somethin’ on your face, there,” he said, and used his socked hand to wipe away a smear of flour from her forehead.

She smiled at him, then pulled the baby into her lap and let him play with her knife until the biscuits were ready. It would be his someday, after all. She thought Keith should be ready. Just in case.

When she served the meal, plated with pride, her husband’s eyebrows shot up, nearly disappearing into his hair. “Don’t recall the recipe callin’ for blueberry jam.”

“I am balancing the flavours,” she informed him. “Sweet and savoury go together. I saw it on the Food Network.”

He stared at her for a second, then glanced down at his plate, and up again. “If you say so,” he finally said, with some reluctance.

A happy burble and a sucking sound caught their attention, and Krolia turned in time to see Keith scoop his hand across his plate and shove both fists into his mouth.

“Keith likes it,” she said, smug, and her husband laughed.

“Well,” he drawled, “if it’s good enough for the _baby ..._ ”

2.

Keith was off hunting with his wolf, and Krolia sat by their shelter, thinking about the simple pleasure of being able to care for her son.

He was still uncomfortable, still held himself stiffly around her, and she understood. Even among the Galra, children usually stayed with their mothers for several decaphoebes, and Keith had been raised human. It was understandable that he would resent her leaving, and be conflicted in her return. She had abandoned him, after all. No matter how much she justified it to herself, and still believed that her choice was the correct one, there was nothing else to call it. Abandonment.

They were getting better. They were. The quantum abyss showed her Keith’s life, and hers to him, and it was impossible not to bond when they had nothing but time and nothing but their own memories to fill it.

The most recent onslaught had been difficult, a barrage of visions of Keith suffering alone after his father’s death, and he had disappeared into the wilderness before she could say anything.

Nothing she did now could make up for an absentee life. She couldn’t go back and teach her child how to fight, or how to hack a biotronic computer, or that he wasn’t alone in the universe. But she was here now, and she would do whatever she could for her son.

So, she cooked.

The recipe was different, by necessity. The spider-creature sausages were good, and she used a common Galra ration recipe to make small rounds of coarse, dense bread, but they didn’t have any blueberry jam.

Still, Krolia hadn’t survived this long by giving up when challenged. It was a trait she saw mirrored in Keith, and she was so, so proud.

Keith returned as she was crushing berries with the flat of her blade, and she felt him go still. She continued her work, waiting for him to make the first move. Finally, he spoke.

“Krolia, what are you doing?” 

“I am making biscuits and gravy.” Her hands were stained black from the juice of the berries, but she didn’t care.

Keith crouched down beside her to watch. “With blueberry jam,” he said. His voice was uncharacteristically soft. “How did you know that was my favourite?”

Krolia blinked. “I didn’t,” she answered honestly. “It is a dish I made on Earth. Your father always laughed at me. He said it was... _weird_.”

“He used to make it for me all the time,” Keith said, in that same quiet voice. He was silent for a moment, then he reached, hesitation stuttering his fingers, and took Krolia’s hand. His palm was warm against hers.

Heart full, she squeezed back. When they let go, some minutes later, Keith’s hand was stained with the berry juice, too.

3.

Her son truly embodied the best of the Galra fighting spirit, and Krolia couldn’t be more proud.

When Kolivan and the Blades arrived on Earth, days after the battle with Sendak, Krolia met him in the hallway outside Keith’s hospital room.

“He would have sacrificed himself for the mission,” she said, and she saw reflected in Kolivan’s face her own fierce, desperate pride. “I pulled him from the Black Lion myself,” she whispered, the memory heavy and important in her stomach. She’d held Keith a handful of times during their years in the quantum abyss, when he was sick or the memories were too much or when she woke in the middle of the night and needed to know he was there. None of those were like this, with such a sharp and immediate fear that this might be the last time. And he still hadn’t woken up.

But he would.

Keith was Galra, and he was her son. He was strong. He would wake up.

“I need you to stay with him until I return,” Krolia said. She had no authority to give Kolivan orders. She didn’t care. Someone needed to be there -- she wouldn’t let Keith wake up alone, not this time. He’d done that enough. 

Kolivan didn’t argue. He simply nodded, and returned Krolia’s salute when she left, after one last, lingering glance at her silent son.

There was a skeleton crew in the Garrison commissary, but nobody dared to try to stop Krolia when she took over the kitchen. 

The recipe was etched into her soul, now. Flour, buttermilk, one “tsp” of baking soda. The smaller one. She took her time with the gravy, and found a jar of blueberry jam in a cupboard, the chunky kind that had been her favourite so long ago.

When she returned, Keith still hadn’t awoken, but Krolia rested easier at his bedside, knowing now that everything was ready.

So when Keith did finally wake, she was able to bring him his first meal on a freed Earth.

Keith’s face lit up, and he reached for the plate with eager hands. With the first bite, his eyes fell closed, and he sighed a deep, contented sigh. “It’s perfect,” he declared, and smiled up at her. “Thanks, mom.”

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for the [Quizsnacks Zine](https://twitter.com/quizsnack), an unofficial Voltron cookbook. I wrote this piece to accompany a recipe for biscuits and gravy, which I've taste-tested since the zines went out and it's delicious.
> 
> [Surplus zine stock will be available in January 2020](https://www.etsy.com/shop/Quizsnacks)!
> 
> Follow me on Twitter [@paxlegomenon](https://twitter.com/paxlegomenon)


End file.
